• No results found

Towards a Sustainable Arctic Tourism An integrated strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic Arctic

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "Towards a Sustainable Arctic Tourism An integrated strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic Arctic"

Copied!
65
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

MR-Næring Akureyri, 3. september 2004 Dop 7. Bilag 2

N o r d i c C o u n c i l o f M i n i s t e r s

T o u r i s m A d H o c W o r k i n g G r o u p

Towards a Sustainable Arctic Tourism

An integrated strategy for the sustainable development of

tourism in the Nordic Arctic

(2)

Cover texts

Nordic Co-operation in Tourism

Tourism in the Nordic countries is based on similar prerequisites, and therefore often faces common challenges. This has resulted in a tradition of Nordic co-operation in tourism. In 1999 the Nordic Council of Ministers took the step of establishing a Tourism Ad Hoc Working Group, to support the Nordic Council of Ministers and Committee of Senior Offi-cials in tourism issues. In addition, the Directors of the respective national tourist boards meet in the so-called Nordic Tourist Board meetings.

The Nordic Council of Ministers

Established in 1971, the Nordic Council of Ministers submits proposals in co-operation with the governments of the five Nordic countries to the Nordic Council, implements the Coun-cil’s recommendations and reports on results, while directing the work carried out in the targeted areas. The Prime Ministers of the five Nordic countries assume overall responsibil-ity for the co-operation measures, which are co-ordinated by the ministers for co-operation and the Nordic Co-operation committee. The composition of the Nordic Council of Minis-ters varies depending on the nature of the issues treated.

The Nordic Council

The Nordic Council was formed in 1952 to promote co-operation between the parliaments and governments of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Finland joined in 1955. At the sessions held by the Council, representatives from the Faeroe Islands and Greenland form part of the Danish delegation, whilst Åland is represented on the Finnish delegation. The Council consists of 87 elected members – all of whom are members of parliament. The Nordic Council takes initiatives, acts in a consultative capacity and monitors co-operation measures. The Council operates via its institutions: the Plenary Assembly, the Presidium and standing committees.

Summary

The tourism industry in the Arctic region of the Nordic countries faces a range of challenges in the future. Its products are sold using images of an unspoiled wilderness, combined with a unique living and cultural heritage. These combine to give the tourists a true adventure – the experience of a lifetime. It is therefore vital that the tourists’ expectations are satisfied by a visit to the Arctic. At the same time, key markets are becoming increasingly aware of the pressures that the tourism industry can have on these values. The Nordic countries are also under pressure from the highest political levels in the international arena to develop tourism policy that takes into account the need to preserve the sustainability of these values, in other words a sustainable tourism development.

This report presents an integrated Nordic strategy for a sustainable tourism development in the Arctic region. It is based on the results of a multi-stakeholder workshop that was held to develop the strategy, as well as a desktop study conducted by the consultants.

(3)

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

Part 1: The Strategy 13

Vision 14

Milestones 15

Coordination of Tourism-related Activities in the Nordic Arctic 17 Building Capacity for Sustainable Tourism in the Nordic Arctic 21 Ensuring that Tourism Benefits the People of the Nordic Arctic 27

Part 2: The Strategy Framework 32

Sustainable Development in the Nordic Arctic 33

Tourism Situation Analysis 37

Tourism Stakeholder Review 48

(4)

Foreword

Tourism plays an important role in our quality of life – it allows us to meet with new cul-tures and languages in the place where we live – and it also allows us to travel and experi-ence new and exciting sights and sounds when we go on holiday ourselves.

At the same time, tourism can be big business. Recent statistics show that tourism provides some eight million jobs for the EU workforce and is the operating foundation for two mil-lion enterprises. A look into the crystal ball shows that the growth rates enjoyed in the past will continue into the future – the volume of EU tourism is expected to double again over the next quarter of a century, and tourism employment is expected to rise by 15% over the next ten years.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has recognised the need for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic countries. In 2001, an overall strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic countries “Towards A Sustainable Nordic Tourism” was approved by the Nordic Council of Ministers and later published. A further report, called “Bridging the Gap”, proposed an Action Plan for the implementation of the aforementioned strategy. Realising the sensitivity of the Arctic nature to human interference and the need to involve local Arctic peoples in the development of the tourism around them on the one hand, and on the other hand the potential of tourism to contribute to the sustainable development of the Arctic region, the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned a team of consultants to assist in the development of a Nordic strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Arctic. The scope of the strategy exclusively includes Greenland, Iceland and the Northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The consultant team consisted of Ian Salter (Project Leader), Kåre Hendriksen and Stig Hirsbak from Rambøll, and Jari Laitakari from Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic. Via a desktop study, the consultants developed a situation analysis of tourism in the Arctic region of the Nordic countries, including a stakeholder review. A multi-stakeholder workshop was then held, where the Logical Framework Approach was applied to enable a prioritisation of the key focus areas for the strategy, and to develop a structured input for the strategy. The seminar gave a valuable input to the completion of the strategy, the results of which you now hold before you.

The Nordic Council of Ministers will, on the basis of the strategy document, decide possible initiatives in order to strengthen the development of sustainable tourism in the Arctic region of the Nordic Countries.

The authors would like to acknowledge the considerable input given by the participants at the multi-stakeholder workshop to the development of this strategy, and we hope that it can be carried on in the spirit of the workshop.

(5)

Summary

General information

The Nordic Council of Ministers is aware that tourism can create jobs and bring with it in-frastructural improvements that can in turn benefit the quality of life of the Nordic area, and in 2000, it approved the strategy “Towards a Sustainable Nordic Tourism”. The Nordic Council of Ministers is also aware of the threat that a poorly managed tourism development poses to the Arctic environment and cultures, and therefore commissioned the Danish con-sultancy Rambøll, in cooperation with Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic in Finland, to assist in the development of a study resulting in a Nordic Arctic strategy for sustainable tourism, within the overall framework of the Nordic sustainable tourism strategy. The consultants, in close cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers Tourism Ad Hoc Working Group1, im-plemented the study during 2003.

This strategy has been developed for the Nordic Arctic region, which is defined for the pur-poses of this study as Iceland, Greenland and the Northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Although the areas that this region encompasses display a wide variety of cultures, landscapes and stages of economic development, they do share dominating aspects, on which this strategy has been based.

The majority of this region lies on the periphery of the Nordic region, both in terms of geo-graphical placement and socio-economic development. Even though urban agglomerations do exist in the Nordic Arctic, with an economic base that is comparable with that of other urbanised areas in the Nordic countries, these areas are predominantly sparsely populated with long distances between them, and are often dependent on one or two primary indus-tries, for example fishing and forestry. The Arctic region also displays common environ-mental problems, for example the build-up of organic pollutants in the food chain, as well as severe soil erosion.

Methodology

The methodology used to develop this strategy is based on the Logical Framework Ap-proach (LFA), which is an analytical tool to facilitate constructive dialogue and the prioriti-sation of issues concerning a pre-defined problem area. The LFA approach used in this study is based on four stages:

1. Situation analysis: to identify the state-of-the-art for tourism in the Arctic, and to at-tempt to define the problem area for application at the multi-stakeholder workshop. 2. Stakeholder review: to identify the target group for the strategy and therefore the

relevant organisations to invite to the multi-stakeholder workshop.

3. Workshop: a two-day multi-stakeholder workshop held in Copenhagen, where the LFA was applied to develop the backbone for the strategy.

4. Strategy development: Development of a draft strategy document that was then put forward to consultation with the stakeholders of Arctic tourism that had expressed an interest in the strategy in stages two and three.

After the consultation phase was completed, the consultants put together a final strategy document that was put forward to the Nordic Council of Ministers Tourism Ad Hoc

1

(6)

ing Group for approval. Final comments were given, which were then integrated into the strategy by the consultant.

Content

In line with the overall Nordic sustainable tourism strategy, the strategy consists of the fol-lowing components: a vision that the strategy should aim towards fulfilling, specific

mile-stones that can assist the users of the strategy in measuring progress towards fulfilling the

vision, and three thematic actions with recommendations for long term and short term ac-tivities.

The Vision

The vision for the strategy is that:

Milestones

It is common practice to incorporate landmarks in strategies, to enable the users to chart progress towards the implementation of the strategy, and its contribution to fulfilling the overall vision. Two milestones are therefore proposed for this strategy:

Thematic actions

Three thematic actions are presented below, which shall be implemented to contribute to fulfilling the vision for the strategy. Each thematic action is broken down into the following components:

• Immediate Measures by 2005 – these actions shall be in place by the end of 2005. • Targets up to 2015 – these actions shall be implemented on a running basis and be in

place by the end of 2015.

• Long Term Goal 2020 – carrying out the immediate measures (2005) and targets (2015) will lead to the fulfilment of the overall long term goal for the thematic action. Furthermore, the sectors that are anticipated as playing a leading role in the implementation of the various actions are also identified.

Coordination of Tourism-related Activities in the Nordic Arctic

All stakeholders of tourism at the local society level, as well as the national and interna-tional levels, actively participate in a process that realises the potential of tourism to contribute to the sustainable development of the Nordic Arctic region.

The physical and social infrastructure is maintained and developed in the Nordic Arctic to ensure a foundation for tourism in local Arctic communities such that, by 2020, there is a positive or neutral percentage change in the population of the local Arctic commu-nities of the Nordic countries (using 2003 as the baseline year).

By 2010:

• At least 85% of those that work in the tourist services within the local Arctic communities identified above, are locally resident.

• At least 65% of tourism businesses based in the Nordic Arctic region, are more than satisfied with the viability of their business (to be monitored nationally and include the local Arctic communities identified above).

(7)

Long Term Goal 2020 Sector Fully integrated coordination of tourism-related

activi-ties in the Nordic Arctic

Nordic Council of Ministers and responsible national, regional and local bodies

Targets up to 2015 Sector

Development of tourism strategies based on the princi-pals of sustainable tourism at the national, regional and local levels

Responsible national, regional and local bod-ies

Integration of tourism into existing spatial planning using a participatory approach

Responsible national, regional and local bod-ies

Development of generic management plans for nature of scientific interest

Responsible national bodies

Immediate Measures by 2005 Sector

Establish an annual Arctic Tourism Forum Nordic Council of Ministers

Building Capacity for Sustainable Tourism in the Nordic Arctic

Long Term Goal 2020 Sector

Capacity has been built for a sustainable tourism in the Nordic Arctic

Nordic Council of Ministers and responsible national and regional bodies

Targets up to 2015 Sector

Prioritisation of programmes in schools to foster entre-preneurship in tourism

National education authorities Publish guide to good practice and success stories in

Arctic tourism

Nordic Council of Ministers Dissemination of information on funding opportunities

to tourism enterprises

Responsible national authorities Encourage establishment of packaging agencies at the

regional level

National and Regional Tourism Organisations and other relevant bodies

Immediate Measures by 2005 Sector

Methodology in place to measure tourism’s overall im-pact on the sustainability of the Arctic region

Nordic Council of Ministers Document availability of training to tourist services Nordic Council of Ministers

Ensuring that Tourism Benefits the People of the Nordic Arctic

Long Term Goal 2020 Sector

Tourism is of significant benefit to the people of the Nordic Arctic

Nordic Council of Ministers and responsible national and international bodies

Targets up to 2015 Sector

Prioritise teaching of local traditions at all levels of the education system

National education authorities Definition of a minimum wage for people employed

within the tourism industry

National Tourism Organisation and trade un-ions

Allocate funding for network projects in the affected local communities

Responsible national and regional bodies Labelling of souvenirs and culturally related goods with

country of origin and place of manufacture

Responsible national and international bodies

Immediate Measures by 2005 Sector

Investigation into leakage of resources from tourism in the Nordic Arctic

(8)

Introduction

Background

Tourism is an activity that benefits our quality of life in many different ways, and has a pro-found impact on our social, cultural and economic life. The Arctic region holds a particular fascination for many tourists. It is the stuff of legend, and a visit there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the limits of modern civilisation. For the people of the Arctic, who are often dependent on the continued stability of one or two main natural resource-based economic activities, tourism development offers an alternative opportunity for economic growth.

The ecosystems in the Arctic are extremely fragile to human disturbance, and the sparsely populated areas, where there are often long distances between the isolated settlements, are generally serviced by a sub-optimal infrastructure. Furthermore, the entrepreneurs necessary for starting-up and driving tourism businesses are few and far between. The challenge is therefore to promote a form of tourism that is of direct economic benefit to the local economies, but does not clash with the local culture and other economic activities (for ex-ample the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors), or damage the natural environment that the majority of tourists have primarily come to see.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has recognised the need for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic countries. In 2001, an overall strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Nordic countries “Towards A Sustainable Nordic Tourism” was published and later approved by the Nordic Council of Ministers. A further report, called “Bridging the Gap”, proposed an Action Plan for the implementation of the aforementioned strategy. Realising the sensitivity of the Arctic nature to human interference and the need to involve local Arctic peoples in the development of the tourism around them on the one hand, and on the other hand the potential of tourism to contribute to the sustainable development of the Arctic region, the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned a team of consultants to assist in the development of a separate Nordic strategy for the sustainable development of tourism in the Arctic.

The Scope of the Strategy

The Arctic can be defined in a number of different ways. For example, its southernmost boundary is often drawn at the southern limit of permafrost, the northern tree line or at the northern limit of the area where the average temperature for July is +10oC. The region north of the Arctic Circle is also a common definition of the Arctic.

The mandate for the scope of this study, and therefore for the strategy itself, is an area cov-ering Greenland, Iceland and the Arctic areas of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The scope of the study is delineated by the black line in Figure 1. For the purposes of this study, the Arctic area of Norway includes Nordland, Troms, Finnmark and Svalbard. The Arctic area of Sweden covers Norrbotten and the Arctic area of Finland covers Lapland. Our definition of the Arctic areas of Finland, Sweden and Norway therefore follows the boundaries of the administrative regions in these countries. This is of particular importance for generating the tourism statistics necessary for describing the Study Framework (see Part 2). For the re-mainder of this strategy document, this area will be commonly referred to as the “Nordic Arctic”.

(9)

Figure 1. The Scope of the Strategy

Table one below presents basic statistics for the area that falls within the scope of the study. Table 1. Key Figures for the Nordic Arctic

Population Area (km2) Top 3 employment sectors Greenland 56 700 2 166 000 1. Public administration and services

2. Fishing and fishing industries 3. Construction and private service

Iceland 290 600 103 300 1. Manufacture

2. Agriculture, fishing & mining 3. Construction

Lapland (Finland)

191 800 99 000 1. Community & personal services

2. Manufacturing

3. Trade, hotels & restaurants

Norrbotten (Sweden)

256 200 98 300 1. Agriculture, farming & fishing

2. Property, insurance & credit institutions 3. Trade

North Norway

453 500 113 000 1. Public administration

2. Service sector

3. Construction (NB. Finnmark fylkeskommun only) Svalbard

(Norway)

1 700 63 000 1. Coal mining

2. Public administration & service 3. Tourism

Furthermore, this strategy focuses on the peripheral areas of this region – those areas that are typically sparsely populated and reliant on one or two primary economic activities.

(10)

There are some urban areas in the Nordic Arctic, which have more in common with the Nordic region rather than with the Arctic, and these areas fall within the scope of the overall Nordic strategy for a sustainable tourism development. The reason for focussing on the pe-ripheral areas is because these areas face the greatest challenges, and a different problem context, to tourism development.

Finally the terms “tourism” and “tourist” can be used to describe many forms of traveller and also many different types of travel experience. For the purposes of this strategy, tourism is defined as “the activities of persons travelling to, and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other pur-poses2”. Three general forms of tourism are typically identified: domestic tourism compris-ing the activities of residents of a given country travellcompris-ing to and staycompris-ing in places only within that country but outside their usual environment; inbound tourism that comprises the activities of non-residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places in that coun-try and outside their usual environment and outbound tourism that comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places outside that country and outside their usual environment3.

The scope of this strategy covers the first two forms of tourism, i.e. the activities of a person resident in a given Nordic country that travels within their own country’s Arctic territory (domestic tourism), and the activities of a person resident in a given country outside the Nordic region that travels within the Nordic Arctic region (inbound tourism). It does not therefore cover outbound tourism, i.e. the activities of a person resident in a given country’s Arctic territory travelling outside of their country and/or their usual environment. The ap-plication of these terms is not straightforward in the Arctic, and it is important to further distinguish between these three types of tourism. For example tourists coming from the south of the Nordic region to the Arctic territory in their own country, and therefore per definition domestic tourists, can be seen by the local peoples to be just as much “inbound tourists” as American or Australian tourists.

A tourist is any person travelling to, and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one year. This strategy therefore covers business tourists as well as leisure tourists. There is furthermore an overlap in the strategy between recreation and tourism, where recreation is understood to be the activities of day visitors to an area, for example local residents visiting a local fjord to enjoy fishing and hunting opportunities. By address-ing tourism, the strategy will therefore also have implications for recreation and the leisure industry.

Why Sustainable Tourism?

This strategy is developed under the overall Nordic strategy for a sustainable development called “Sustainable Development – New Bearings for the Nordic Countries”. Here, sustain-able development is defined as “development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (…) In the final analysis however, sustainable development is no final state of harmony but rather a process of change in which the utilisation of resources, management of investments, the

2

1999/35/EC: Commission Decision of 9 December 1998 on procedures for… collection of statistical information in the field of tourism

3

(11)

direction of technological developments and the institutional changes are brought in line with the future as well as the present needs”4. In addition, the strategy states that a sustain-able development contains three mutually dependent dimensions: an economic, a socio-cultural and an environmental dimension. A sustainable development entails that a better integration of the three dimensions is established.

The consultant has adapted the above definition to fit the circumstances facing tourism de-velopment in the Arctic. To be considered sustainable, tourism must:Give a reasonable

source of income to the local population,

• Not come into conflict with the local population’s culture and business activities but shall have a positive effect on social development,

• Be run without significantly damaging nature and the environment and should be able to function for many generations – in principal forever.

Methodology Used

The methodology used to develop this strategy is based on the Logical Framework Ap-proach (LFA), which is an analytical tool to facilitate constructive dialogue and the prioriti-sation of issues concerning a pre-defined problem area. The LFA approach used in this study is based on four stages:

1. Situation analysis: to identify the state-of-the-art for tourism in the Arctic, and to define the problem area for application at the multi-stakeholder workshop5. 2. Stakeholder review: to identify the target group for the strategy and therefore the

relevant organisations for invitation to the multi-stakeholder workshop.

3. Workshop: a two-day multi-stakeholder workshop6 held in Copenhagen, where the LFA was applied in working groups7 to develop the backbone for the strategy8. 4. Strategy development: Development of a draft strategy document that was then put

forward to consultation with the stakeholders of Arctic tourism that had expressed an interest in the strategy in stages 2 and 3.

After the consultation phase was completed, the consultants put together a final strategy document that was put forward to the Nordic Council of Ministers Tourism Ad Hoc Work-ing Group for approval. Final comments were given, which were then integrated into the strategy by the consultant.

Limitations

This strategy document was developed over a relatively short period of time, as specified in the Terms of Reference for the study. This meant that there was a relatively limited amount of time available for the investigative work at the beginning of the study. The LFA is based on the results of an intense two-day workshop, where brainstorming took place in groups to identify the problem areas and propose solutions and concrete recommendations. There is a risk that not all the relevant problem areas were identified owing to the time pressure. Nonetheless, care was taken in the workshop to allow feedback to the plenum, ensuring that

4

Nordic Council of Ministers, Sustainable Development – New Bearings for the Nordic Countries, 2001

5

Annex 2 presents a complete list of the reference material used

6

Annex 3 presents the participant list for the multi-stakeholder workshop

7 Annex 4 presents the members of the three working groups at the multi-stakeholder workshop 8

(12)

there was a chance for extra comments to be given to the working groups by the other par-ticipants.

Assumptions

Although there are perhaps many more differences than similarities between the regions of the Nordic Arctic, in terms of geography, history and culture, it is assumed that they share enough common characteristics on which to build the foundation for a common strategy. These common characteristics include the types of tourism found and the challenges of de-veloping it in a sustainable manner.

Implementing the Strategy

The strategy “Towards a Sustainable Arctic Tourism” suggests long-term goals to fulfil by 2020, targets in the form of actions that shall be implemented on a running basis and be in place by the end of 2015 and describes immediate measures, which the Nordic countries and territories should consider initiating by the end of 2005. A central principle in the strat-egy is the integration of sustainable tourism considerations into tourism policy areas and other areas that influence, or are influenced by, tourism. Implementation of the strategy pre-supposes the commitment of the political leadership and an ongoing dialogue between the authorities. Furthermore it presupposes the participation of the stakeholders of tourism in the Nordic Arctic communities. It is suggested that the Nordic countries and self-governing territories shall have the principal responsibility of fulfilling the goals, targets and immedi-ate measures outlined in the strimmedi-ategy proposal. It is suggested that the Nordic Council of Ministers will be responsible for the information, reporting, evaluation and revision activi-ties that the strategy will require. It is recommended that the follow-up to this strategy matches the follow-up process for the Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development, of which it is proposed that this strategy should be a sub-component. It is therefore suggested that the strategy undergoes a mid-term review, which is submitted to the bodies responsible for tourism in the Nordic countries and the self-governing territories as well as the Coordi-nation Ministers and the Ministers for the Environment for appraisal and comment. The mid-term review should include an assessment of the results and experiences from the strat-egy’s first period are to be assessed, leading to a revision of the strategy if needs be. Structure and Content

Part 1 presents the main strategy. The strategy consists of a vision, milestones, long-term

goals, targets and immediate measures. It is recommended that the strategy be implemented by concentrating activities within three cross-cutting issues:

1. Coordination of tourism related activities in the Nordic Arctic, 2. Building capacity for sustainable tourism in the Nordic Arctic, and 3. Ensuring that tourism benefits the people of the Nordic Arctic.

Part 2 presents the analytical framework for the strategy, and therefore consists of:

• Sustainable Development in the Arctic – a discussion of the issues and challenges facing the Arctic region in terms of achieving a sustainable development.

• Tourism Situation Analysis – an overview of contemporary forms of tourism in the Nordic Arctic region based on a breakdown of the tourism value chain. • Stakeholder Review – presenting a stakeholder overview for the Nordic Arctic

re-gion and a description of the international obligations and cooperative processes that are relevant for the current strategy.

(13)
(14)

Vision

The overall vision for the strategy “Towards a Sustainable Arctic Tourism” is that:

The tourist image of the Arctic is a region of outstanding natural beauty and unex-plored wilderness. It’s a region where the tourist can experience close encounters with nature, such as whales, reindeer, seals and bird life, at a sufficient level of comfort and safety. This image of the Arctic region builds upon the mysticism that surrounds the region, and contributes to its appeal. School children from an early age learn of the Arctic’s epic history, and a visit to the Arctic therefore becomes a dream, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many.

The Arctic societies in the Nordic region are generally portrayed as being periph-eral, and facing many challenges to their long-term survival, including depletion of the living resources that are their economic mainstay (fish stocks etc.) and depopu-lation, as younger generations move into larger urban areas or leave the region altogether. There is little doubt that contemporary tourism makes a contribution to the economies of the Nordic Arctic region. However, the statistics show that tour-ism development has been relatively stable for the region over the past few years. If tourism is to make a more significant contribution to the economic stability of the Arctic region, then a renewed and refocused effort is needed between the Nor-dic countries. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that increased tour-ism does not damage the Arctic nature, which is of global importance for its biodi-versity, or the culture that is connected to the nature. It is also this nature, and the culture connected to it, that the majority of tourists have primarily come to see. In other words, if tourism is to make a more significant contribution to the sustain-able development of the Nordic Arctic, then it has to be sustainsustain-able itself, as re-flected in the vision for the strategy. It is also important to understand that the de-velopment of a sustainable tourism, and thereby the ability to realise its contribu-tion to the sustainable development of the Nordic Arctic region, is a continual process and not a one-off exercise. Furthermore, this process will require the commitment and active participation of all stakeholders of tourism, from the local society level in the Arctic to the national and international levels.

All stakeholders of tourism at the local society level, as well as the national and international levels, actively participate in a process that realises the potential of tourism to contribute to the sustainable development of the Nordic Arctic region.

(15)

Milestones

It is common practice to incorporate landmarks into strategies, to enable the users to chart progress towards the implementation of the strategy, and its contribution to fulfilling the overall vision. The aim of this section is to propose two milestones for the Arctic tourism strategy, and explain the background for their selection. Both milestones are directly related to the thematic actions proposed in the strat-egy, where significantly low scores are achieved, then the strategy needs to be consulted to identify relevant actions to improve the scores.

The first long term milestone is that:

Infrastructure is the key to realising the potential of tourism to contribute to the sustainable development of the Nordic Arctic region. A sound infrastructure has to be maintained and developed to ensure a foundation for driving tourism in the lo-cal Arctic communities. This infrastructure is both physilo-cal, in terms of roads, buildings etc., as well as social, in terms of the local people and the support that they need to continue living in the Nordic Arctic, for example education, health-care provision etc.

If the infrastructure is not maintained and developed, then it is likely that the popu-lation levels in many local Arctic communities will drop as future generations seek elsewhere, which may be detrimental to tourism. In order to realise the full poten-tial of tourism opportunities, it’s important that the diversity of the Arctic popula-tions, both geographical and cultural, is maintained.

Each Nordic Arctic country is responsible for identifying the relevant local Arctic communities where the population levels are to be monitored for this milestone. The second milestone is that:

The physical and social infrastructure is maintained and developed in the Nordic Arctic to ensure a foundation for tourism in local Arctic communi-ties such that, by 2020, there is a positive or neutral percentage change in the population of the local Arctic communities of the Nordic countries (us-ing 2003 as the baseline year).

By 2010:

• At least 85% of those that work in the tourist services within the

local Arctic communities identified above, are locally resident.

• At least 65% of tourism businesses based in the Nordic Arctic

re-gion, are more than satisfied with the viability of their business (to be monitored nationally and include the local Arctic communities identified above).

(16)

A significant risk to the sustainability of tourism in the Nordic Arctic is that the labour force required to operate some of the larger establishments, is imported from outside of the Arctic region. Furthermore, some of the smaller enterprises can be owned and operated by entrepreneurs who are not locally resident. This means that the economic dividend of running the enterprise leaves the local area in the form of investments elsewhere, taxation and other forms of leakage.

Both these factors represent a large barrier to spreading the benefits of tourism to the local populations in the local Arctic communities. The first part of the second milestone therefore seeks to monitor the percentage of the labourforce that works within the local Arctic communities, that is locally resident. The local Arctic communities for use in monitoring this milestone are the same as those identified in the first long-term milestone.

To be sustainable, tourism must also offer a good quality of life to those operating tourism businesses. They should be satisfied with the viability of their businesses, in other words that it brings them a reliable source of income. The second part of the second milestone therefore seeks to monitor the percentage of the tourism businesses in the Nordic Arctic that are more than satsfied with the viability of their business.

It is recommended that this milestone is monitored by initiating a questionnaire-based survey of those that are driving tourism businesses in the Nordic Arctic. In the questionnaire, the entrepreneurs can be asked to rate their level of satisfaction with business in the foregone year, in relation to the year before. The local Arctic communities for use in monitoring this milestone are the same as those identified in the first long-term milestone.

(17)

Coordination of Tourism-related Activities in the

Nordic Arctic

Keywords: planning, awareness raising, nature conservation, division of

re-sponsibilities

Introduction

Clear ownership of tourism issues is in general a problem when it comes to coor-dinating tourism-related activities in the Nordic Arctic. One reason for the vague ownership of tourism issues is its lack of definition, and a lack of general aware-ness of the activities related to tourism. It is relatively difficult to generate and access information on the real value of tourism to the Arctic areas of the Nordic countries, which means that tourism remains a low profile industry compared to other more traditional industries. However, the development of new statistical models, such as the Tourism Satellite Account, should facilitate this process in the future. This in turn means that tourism is not prioritised at each stage of the public administration, and that there is in particular a lack of awareness towards sustain-able tourism issues. Tourism issues are therefore split into so many different or-ganisations that it’s difficult to coordinate on the ground.

The issue of overall planning is very important in terms of the development of a sustainable tourism. Individual actors in the tourism industry should be able to follow the principles of sustainability in their everyday actions. Communities, re-gional and national organisations can also be active in the field of sustainable de-velopment. A problem seems to be a lack of coordination at different organisa-tional levels and between different organisations. There is a need for a division of work between the different parties.

The management of sustainable tourism issues is also important at the Nordic level. The Nordic countries all deal with Arctic tourism. The problems concerning tourism are virtually the same in every Nordic Arctic area: seasonality, a limited economic benefit for the local population, limited positive cultural interaction, the impact of tourism on the sensitive Arctic nature and the importance of nature-based activities as attractions. Creating strategic thinking in sustainable tourism would be one of the concrete cooperative issues between the Nordic countries. The thematic action of coordinating tourism-related activities in the Nordic Arctic region was prioritised at the multi-stakeholder workshop because the issue is the type of activity area where the Nordic countries would have the best possibility for inter-governmental cooperation. It needs to be borne in mind, however, that the regulation regarding land use planning is slightly different in each Nordic country.

(18)

Long Term Goal 2020

There is a need to achieve better coordination of tourism related activities in the Nordic Arctic. Coordination is here used to describe the spatial planning and stra-tegic development processes that are found at the local and regional levels, as well as communication between the players involved in tourism development.

The implementation of the targets (2015) and immediate measures (2005) will facilitate the achievement of this overall goal. The sectors that are anticipated as playing a leading role in the implementation of the various actions are therefore automatically given a leading role in the implementation of the long-term goal. Targets up to 2015

Tourism Planning

A clear division of responsibility is absolutely vital for coordinating tourism ac-tivities in the Nordic Arctic and ensuring their sustainable development. Impor-tantly, this work has to be done at all levels of administration – from the national level to the local level.

The sustainable tourism strategy is a fundamental document to planning tourism development. Examples of national and regional sustainable tourism strategies can be found on the DestiNet internet portal9. The Nordic NEST project (Network Evolution for Sustainable Tourism) produced guidelines for destination manage-ment, which can be of use in structuring local tourism strategies10. Furthermore, the Nordic project Tourism and Environment in the Arctic resulted in a toolkit for local municipalities to use in tourism planning, which can also be used for guid-ance in the development of local tourism strategies based on the principals of sus-tainable tourism11.

At a minimum, the local tourism strategy should include the views of the local people and contain information on the type of tourism that they want to develop, 9 See http://destinet.ewindows.eu.org/aEconomic/1/ 10 See http://destinet.ewindows.eu.org/nest/ 11 See http://www.nordicinnovation.net/

By 2020, a fully integrated coordination of tourism-related activities in the Nordic Arctic has been realised.

It is recommended that by the end of 2015, tourism strategies based on the prin-cipals of sustainable tourism, will have been drawn-up at the national, regional and local (destination) levels in the Nordic Arctic using a participatory process.

(19)

i.e. what are the preferred tourist segments, and how many of these tourists do they want to attract to their destination. The tourism strategy should then form the basis of all marketing and product development activities, ensuring that the form of tourism being implemented fits the strategic decisions made for the destination. The implementation of this target will require the active participation of the re-sponsible national, regional and local bodies.

Spatial Planning

Spatial planning is a common means of projecting the growth of a region, and is often done in consultation with the affected populations. A spatial plan typically lasts for five years and projects infrastructure developments in the region. The implementation of this target will require the active participation of the re-sponsible national, regional and local bodies.

Conserving Nature

Improved management plans are needed for both protected and unprotected areas of outstanding natural beauty and special scientific interest, in each Nordic Arctic region. The guidelines for using nature in commercial tourist services are unclear, and there seems to be a good deal of confusion. In Greenland, travellers who want to cross the inland ice have to have written permission from the Greenlandic Home Rule government, and visitors to Svalbard must also get permission first. There are, however, very different policies for tourism use even within individual coun-tries. The so-called “Everyman’s Right” is a Nordic privilege that needs to be up-held. Commercial use therefore requires discussion between the landowners and the tourism providers.

The management plans should follow a specific format, which could for example be relevant EU legislation on nature protection. The management plans should cover all aspects of nature conservation, and all types of usage but there should be a special section where tourism issues are discussed. If the management plans find it necessary, regulation should be initiated to curb environmental degradation. Ex-amples of relevant regulations could be an environmental (green) tax on motorised

It is recommended that by the end of 2015, existing spatial plans must include tour-ism issues and be developed with a participatory approach, including the involve-ment of the local populations.

It is recommended that by the end of 2015, generic management plans have been developed for protected and unprotected nature areas of specific scientific interest, and regulatory methods taken into use in visitor management where necessary.

(20)

activities, for example four wheel drive safaris and snow scooters, or entrance fees for national parks.

The implementation of this target will require the active participation of the re-sponsible national bodies.

Immediate Measure by 2005

Raising Awareness

There is considerable need to raise awareness among all Nordic Arctic tourism stakeholders of the need for a sustainable tourism. Both the public administrative bodies and the private sector need to review their approach to tourism develop-ment in the Nordic Arctic. At the modevelop-ment there is no common forum where Nor-dic Arctic tourism stakeholders can meet to discuss important and common issues. An ATF will be established by the Nordic Council of Ministers and chaired by the Nordic country with presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers at that particu-lar time. The forum should be coordinated with the EU Tourism Forum, which is held at the end of December each year. Stakeholders of Arctic Tourism should have the opportunity to take part in the forum, with first priority being given to stakeholders from the Nordic Arctic region. Relevant organisations therefore in-clude: tourist services (including accommodation, activity based products etc), tourism intermediaries and travel organisers, public authorities and NGOs. The aims of the ATF will be to:

• Raise awareness on particular issues of sustainability that are relevant for tour-ism activities in the Arctic region,

• Help produce a clear division of the work to be done in the implementation of this strategy, create clearer responsibilities among the tourism sector, and en-able an efficient forum for following-up on the progress made towards the im-plementation of this strategy,

• Improve the information process,

• Allow feedback from the marketplace to the “product place” – i.e. from the tour operators to the local communities and vice versa.

The final aim of the ATF will be to lead an overall changing of attitudes. As travel costs can be restrictive in the Arctic area, the Nordic Council of Ministers should consider paying for the travel costs of the smaller organisations to the forum, to ensure a balanced representation. At the same time, the travel costs of the key speakers should be covered. The implementation of this action will require that the Nordic Council of Ministers takes a lead role.

It is recommended that by 2005, an Arctic Tourism Forum (ATF) will be inaugurated and held on an annual basis.

(21)

Building Capacity for Sustainable Tourism in the

Nordic Arctic

Keywords: innovation, entrepreneurship, training and education, marketing,

product development

Introduction

The product that the tourists purchase when they travel to the Arctic is a fusion of many different elements, which combine to form the overall experience. One es-sential element of that experience is that there should be sufficient tourism enter-prises in a given area to provide the tourists with the services that they require and expect, and to capitalise on the presence of tourists, in terms of offering them addi-tional services or products, for example boat trips or local handicraft souvenirs. At the multi-stakeholder workshop, it soon became clear that there was a need to focus on the business aspects of tourism in the Arctic region12. A range of problem areas were identified, which can be grouped into five main deficits:

• There is a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, which means that not enough people in the Arctic want to be tourism entrepreneurs. The root cause seems to be a lack of confidence among the Arctic people of their ability to earn good money from tourism.

• There are too many unrealistic tourist enterprises that are established on an unsustainable basis, and as a result the supply cannot match the demand and the quality of the expectations in particular.

• There is in general a lack of economic resources necessary for kick-starting tourism business development in the Nordic Arctic.

• The infrastructure is insufficient so it can only bear a limited number of tour-ists and this needs to be taken into consideration when planning tourism. • The tourists are in general unaware of the possibilities open to them when they

visit an area in the Arctic, which raises several issues related to marketing, and lack of a clear strategy.

The need to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation must in turn respect the need for a sustainable development. Tourism must not be developed at any cost but needs to be done in a manner, which balances the benefits to the economy and local society against the damage to the environment and culture – in other words, tourism must itself be developed sustainably in order to contribute to the sustain-able development of the Arctic region.

12

(22)

Long Term Goal 2020

The implementation of the targets (2015) and immediate measures (2005) will facilitate the achievement of this overall goal. The sectors that are anticipated as playing a leading role in the implementation of the various actions are therefore automatically given a leading role in the implementation of the long-term goal. Targets up to 2015

Engaging Primary and Secondary Schools

Schools are a central element in shaping future societies. Initiatives should be en-couraged that build links between the educational system and tourist enterprises, in order to give the pupils a taste of the opportunities that tourism can give them, and to lift its status as a prestige industry. This can for example be done via:

• Innovation projects in schools from pre-school level right through the educa-tion system. This form of learning is very much “hands-on” and the school pu-pils can for example learn how a tourist product is put together, and try it themselves on a small scale.

• The integration of tourism into school curricula as a means of training pupils in economic theory or geography, together with use of real cases.

There should be funds set aside at the national level for schools to apply from. These programmes should also include tourism and seek to build links between the educational system and tourism businesses.

The implementation of this target will require the national education authorities to take a lead role.

By 2020, capacity has been built to enable the continued development of a sus-tainable tourism in the Nordic Arctic.

It is recommended that by 2015, the national educational authorities in each Nordic Arctic territory have prioritised programmes that foster entrepreneurship in tourism over a five-year period.

(23)

Disseminating Good Practice

One of the main barriers to tourism development in the Arctic is that it is not seen as a prestige industry, and there are few examples of success stories to inspire up-coming generations to get involved in tourism. Good examples do however exist, and awareness to them needs to be raised. Good practice can be disseminated at many levels of technicality but it is proposed that the main target group is younger generations, rather than the tourism industry itself. The type of good practice dis-seminated could include information on how to develop an idea into reality, tips on how to attract funding and how to keep reinventing the product to meet customer expectations.

The implementation of this target foresees the active participation of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Improving Access to Funding

Funding is an important issue for any industry but perhaps even more so for the tourism industry, where over 90% of the tourism companies in the EU are SMEs, and in the Arctic region it is often one or two person companies. There are two items of interest in the title “Improve Access to Funding”. Firstly the issue that funding is available to support tourism business development but it is not very well known in the Arctic region. This situation can be changed by better informa-tion and by better coordinainforma-tion of project applicainforma-tions. The other issue is the fact that the funding does not necessarily match the needs of the Arctic tourism busi-nesses. Work can be done here to improve the offer to the Arctic busibusi-nesses. Awareness raising is needed to help tourism businesses identify potential sources of funding, and also to inform those that are interested in starting-up a tourism company, of the funding that they can apply for. Stakeholder networks are a means of disseminating information on funding opportunities for Arctic tourism

busi-It is recommended that by 2015, the Nordic Council of Ministers has pub-lished a guide to good practice and success stories in Arctic tourism, with the aim of raising awareness of young people to the opportunities that tourism can bring to local people in the Arctic.

It is recommended that by 2015, the local authorities in the Nordic Arctic are regularly informed about the funding opportunities that are available to start a new tourism business, or for continued product development of an existing business. If this process shows that funds are lacking to support the start-up and further development of Arctic tourism enterprises, then relevant stake-holders should seek to establish these funds.

(24)

nesses. Due to the large distances in the Arctic region, advances in information technology – for example interactive websites – can be used to engage stake-holders in this form of networking.

This target should be coordinated at the national level by the responsible national authorities. Use of Information Technology solutions should be explored, as well as the communication of information on the project application process that can be further disseminated to companies.

Improving Marketing and Product Development

Marketing is an essential part of the tourism value chain, linking the products to the market. It provides pre-travel information to the tourists and creates their ex-pectations for the holiday or business trip. The marketing therefore has to be in touch with the reality. Both in terms of what products the tourists can experience, and what type of tourist the Nordic Arctic destinations want to attract. The estab-lishment of an Arctic Tourism Forum would boost national and transnational communication on marketing issues, in terms of clashes in the signals that are be-ing sent through the marketbe-ing of a particular region.

Product development is closely related to marketing issues in tourism. Here the link between the products and the marketing in the Arctic are the packaging agen-cies. They specialise in putting together packages for the market using the existing tourist products. Packaging agencies are few and far between in the Arctic. Special emphasis needs to be put on the high seasonality of the Arctic tourism in-dustry, which is a significant effect on the sustainability of the tourism industry. This is likely to be a long process, whereby training initiatives can build up extra products that can boost the tourist season. Marketing then needs to take up on this and market these products to tourist segments which are more flexible in their holidaying, for example elderly people and the youth/adventure market.

The implementation of this target foresees the active involvement of the National and Regional Tourist Organisations, as well as other relevant national bodies. One example of marketing is labelling, and the Swedish “Natures Best” labelling of ecotourism services is a recent initiative that has been developed in the field of

It is recommended that by 2015 an information campaign has taken place to encourage the establishment of “packaging agencies” at the regional level in the Arctic. This should primarily be initiated by the National and Regional Tourist Organisations, and fall within the work of the Good Practice dissemina-tion activity.

(25)

sustainable tourism13. Nature’s Best is a quality label for Swedish Ecotourism, launched during the UN International Year of Ecotourism 2002, and currently has 49 labelled operators. The label guarantees to the tourist that the tour product they are purchasing meets a wide range of criteria related to the quality of the product, contributions to nature conservation and care for the cultural heritage of the desti-nation. Nature's Best relies on the fulfilling of six main groups of criteria, within which there are a series of detailed demands that have to be met by both the opera-tor and by those tour products the operaopera-tor would like to label. In total, there are around 80 basic criteria, which all must be met, and around 50 bonus criteria, of which around 10 percent must be met. Nature's Best also presents specific de-mands to special activities, such as hunting, fishing, horseback riding and canoe-ing. This target should seek to incorporate the lessons learned by the Nature’s Best scheme and the labelled operators.

Immediate Measures by 2005

Measuring the Impact of Tourism

One of the main challenges to the appeal of tourism as a future growth market in the Arctic territories, on a par with for example IT, is the lack of information on the economic and social benefits that tourism brings. This means that tourism is not seen as a prestige industry, reducing the entrepreneurial spirit, and the interest of potential financiers in funding tourism businesses. More information on tour-ism’s economic impact at the local level would aid this process. Also, tourism in the Arctic has to take place within a carefully planned and monitored framework, to ensure that the development of tourism businesses does not have significant environmental and cultural impacts. Any system gathering information on tour-ism’s economic impacts should also be able to gather data on the environmental impacts of tourism, so that action can be taken in a case where tourism is begin-ning to have a significant effect on the local environment.

This system shall be able to measure (i) tourism’s economic impact on the local destination, (ii) tourism’s impact on the local environment and (iii) tourism’s im-pact on the local people and their way of life. The system could be based on indi-cators that are measured annually and monitored over time.

The implementation of this target will require the active involvement of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is seen as taking the lead.

13

See www.naturensbasta.com

It is recommended that by 2005, the Nordic Council of Ministers has ensured that an agreed methodology is in place for a system to measure tourism’s overall im-pact on the sustainability of the Arctic region.

(26)

Fostering Entrepreneurship

Professional course centres and academic institutes in the Arctic offer tourism training, but its provision is fragmented. At the same time, national and transna-tional tourism projects, have developed courses that are offered to the tourist ser-vice sector – for example the SMART project14. There is a fundamental need for training in basic business skills, such as the pricing of the product. It is also neces-sary to get an overview, at the national level, of what tourism training is being of-fered, and where the gaps are. The next step is then to identify how these gaps can be filled, where one promising development is the use of distance learning initia-tives, which avoids the high travels costs seen in the Arctic.

In order to reach this stage, the players must have conducted a thorough training needs analysis, to identify where there are gaps in the provision of tourism train-ing. Tourism training should be provided within a range of fields, including prod-uct innovation – i.e. how to improve the range of offers to tourists outside the tra-ditional tourist season and thereby help counter the strong trends towards seasonal-ity, and basic business skills – a significant help in getting the price right for tour-ist products.

The implementation of this target will require the active involvement of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is seen as taking the lead.

14

See http://www.northernperiphery.net/cp/frameset.html

It is recommended that by 2005, each organisation with overall responsibility for tourism development in the Arctic territories, must be able to document that a full range of tourism training is available to the tourist services (part time training courses etc.), and that they regularly communicate this availability.

(27)

Ensuring that Tourism Benefits the People of the

Nordic Arctic

Keywords: multi-cultural society, indigenous peoples, mono-economy, leakage

Introduction

Tourists are attracted to the Arctic region of the Nordic countries because of its uniqueness, both in terms of the natural and climatic dimensions, as well as the living conditions that these have provided, and still provide, for the people of the Arctic region.

The natural conditions have resulted in a small and widely distributed population, which has been dependent on the opportunities provided by hunting, fishing, for-estry and “agricultural” (primarily in the form of reindeer herding and sheep pro-duction) activities for its welfare. In contemporary times, mining has also been carried out at specific localities. But in general, history shows that local culture has been tightly bound to the natural conditions in the Arctic.

Today’s residential patterns still reflect these historical constraints, even in the location of the large urban agglomerations that are found in the Arctic, where the population levels in many places exceed the limits of nutrition that the surrounding nature can supply. Many local communities in the Arctic continue to have a mono-economic dependency on one or several natural resources, which makes them eco-nomically vulnerable and can threaten their continued existence. These areas are typically located on the periphery of the Arctic region, and these provide the main focus for the current strategy.

Even though there is a wide diversity of Arctic cultures, representing numerous ethnic groups with different historical and ethnic backgrounds, one common fea-ture is that they are tightly bound to the natural conditions that they have been, or continue to be, dependent on. It is therefore impossible to refer to one Sami, one Norse, or one Inuit culture but there are several cultural identities bound to the different localities. Furthermore, many Arctic communities are multi-cultural, with several different Arctic and more recent immigrant cultures living side-by-side and influencing each other.

It is also important to point out that culture is much broader than its materialistic expression via dress, tools, diet and housing styles etc. The term culture in reality covers a group’s total strategy for adapting to, and surviving in, the natural condi-tions, which is developed on a continuous basis via exposure to new materials and technology, as well as to different cultures and social relations – both for the good and for the bad. In terms of a sustainable tourism development, it is essential to understand that culture is dynamic, and not static. Cultures are of course influ-enced by tourism, and the focus should therefore be on a positive interaction.

(28)

Tourism will ultimately affect everyone in a small community. Even if the tourism takes place off the beaten track, it will still load and influence the infrastructure. When tourism takes place within populated areas, it results in an interaction be-tween the local culture and those from outside.

It is therefore a condition for a sustainable tourism development that tourism is seen as, and managed as, a cross-cutting dimension that affects and is affected by many sectors of society, not just the tourism sector itself.

At the workshop, a series of problem areas and challenges were observed in con-nection with tourism’s interaction with the peoples of the Nordic Arctic, which needs to be addressed in the current strategy. These are as follows:

• There is a lack of local involvement and acceptance of tourism development in some Arctic communities. This could be because tourism is very limited but more worryingly, it could also be because the decisions have been made by a minority for the majority.

• There can be conflicts with the local trade and industry whereby tourism does not function as an integrated part of the local trade and industry but rather as an isolated sector, for example importing all foodstuffs needed for a hotel’s operation.

• Travel to the Nordic Arctic is often sold by agents outside of the Arctic, that are either based in the larger Nordic cities or outside the Nordic region alto-gether. This means that the economic dividend and the socio-economic bene-fits in terms of taxation are leaked outside of the Arctic region, where the tour-ism is taking place. This form of “leakage” means that it can be discussed whether tourism then becomes meaningless for a small community.

• Tourism in the Nordic Arctic is expected to develop and prosper on the “free market”, but this term is just an illusion because many of the areas with which the Arctic destinations must compete for tourists (for example Alpine ski sport centres) benefit from a long range of EU subsidies, as well as their favourable geographic position, infrastructure etc. If tourism is better integrated into the local economy then it can also begin to redress this imbalance, for example by the purchase of local foodstuffs and game.

• Contact between the tourist and the Arctic resident is all too lacking and needs to be addressed, for example via “Meet the Locals” programmes.

• There is a tendency for the commercialisation of the Arctic culture and its rich traditions. This can be seen in the mass production of traditional survival strategies – for example the Sami knife – for tourists to purchase. This form of consumerism also includes the staging of local customs for tourists, which can at the worst result in loss of identity for the Arctic cultures.

Based on these problem areas and challenges, a series of long term and short term goals are recommended in the next section of the strategy.

(29)

Long Term Goal 2020

The implementation of the targets (2015) and immediate measures (2005) will facilitate the achievement of this overall goal. The sectors that are anticipated as playing a leading role in the implementation of the various actions are therefore automatically given a leading role in the implementation of the long-term goal. Targets up to 2015

Strengthening Local Cultural Identities

There is a threat that tourism can lead to a dilution of the cultural identity of the Arctic communities because it exploits these and oversimplifies them. At the same time, when done properly, tourism can also play an important role in reversing cultural degeneration by placing a value on the stories associated with culture and the unique cultural identities found throughout the Nordic Arctic.

It is important that this process is tied to the tourism strategy process at the local level, regional and national levels. The increased local awareness of history and cultural identity – and the value placed on these dimensions – should in turn have a positive effect on the “products” that the local communities can offer to the tour-ists – for example guided tours of the community with associated storytelling ac-tivities.

This measure foresees that the national education authorities take an active role in its implementation.

Generating Jobs

Although the tourism industry brings jobs, the type of job that it brings is not al-ways satisfactory. Due to the highly seasonal nature of the tourism industry, the jobs are also temporal in nature, and often go to unskilled workers. Furthermore, there is a high degree of transient labour, with seasonal workers travelling up to

By 2020, tourism is of significant benefit to the people of the Nordic Arctic.

It is recommended that by 2015, the bodies responsible for tourism development in the Nordic Arctic region, have begun work to define a minimum wage for people employed within the tourism industry, if such does not exist already.

It is recommended that by 2015, the national educational authorities have priori-tised the education and teaching of local traditions at all levels of the education system and that this is also spread to the communities.

(30)

the Nordic Arctic from the southern parts of the Nordic region and abroad. There is little control of the working conditions and wages for these workers, which can be very unsatisfactory.

The minimum wage can be finalised via legislation or agreements between the relevant trade unions and industry representatives. Furthermore, the minimum wage should be the equivalent of the minimum wage in similar service sector in-dustries.

The implementation of this target will require the active involvement of the Na-tional Tourism Organisations and the trade unions.

Ensuring a Positive Cultural Interaction

Tourism affects everyone in a community, both for the good as well as for the bad. It is therefore important to ensure the best possible effect of operating tourism in a small community. The best means of ensuring a positive cultural interaction be-tween tourism and the local cultures is by actual involvement of the local people in the planning and implementation of tourism development.

The Nordic project “Tourism and Environment in the Arctic”, financed by the Nordic Industrial Fund and local stakeholders, demonstrated that one means of involving local people, and giving them the opportunity to have an influence, is via networks of local stakeholders that include a wide category and selection of the local society.

These type of networks need to be directly involved in the municipal, regional and national tourism development planning processes for the relevant areas. These groups should also ensure the essential dialogue between, for example the tourism businesses, primary trade sectors and the local municipalities. At the same time, funding should be made available for local tourism development projects. The implementation of this target will require the active involvement of the re-sponsible national and/or regional bodies.

It is recommended that by 2015, the national and/or regional bodies that are re-sponsible for tourism development in the Nordic Arctic have allocated funding for network projects in the affected local communities, which can work on a multi-sectoral basis with participation of local peoples and with sustainable tourism de-velopment.

References

Related documents

46 Konkreta exempel skulle kunna vara främjandeinsatser för affärsänglar/affärsängelnätverk, skapa arenor där aktörer från utbuds- och efterfrågesidan kan mötas eller

För att uppskatta den totala effekten av reformerna måste dock hänsyn tas till såväl samt- liga priseffekter som sammansättningseffekter, till följd av ökad försäljningsandel

Inom ramen för uppdraget att utforma ett utvärderingsupplägg har Tillväxtanalys också gett HUI Research i uppdrag att genomföra en kartläggning av vilka

Four examples are briefly pre- sented in the regional overviews: (1) the Whales and Glacier Science Adventure ship-based tour that forms part of a community-based monitoring effort

Research limitations/implications – Future research agenda is suggested to cover, first, assessment of natural and technical snow reliability of existing and all potential ski areas

Lord Dufferin’s travelogue Letters from High Latitudes (1857), similarly, begins by invoking the notion of the far North as cold and dangerous, but the overall idea of the

insatser, organisering och processer med avseende på de tio kommuner som har deltagit i satsningen. Syftet med studien har varit att bidra med en ökad förståelse för hur

In this paper, we introduce the curriculum design of software model checking, which is part of a larger education program that addresses several issues in software engineering